Right Turns On Left Of The Dial

Do you want to know why people don’t listen to the radio anymore? Because there’s no personalities, there’s no distinction between one station and another, they play the same songs that they’ve always played for the past quarter century, and there’s no localism being broadcasted.
One would think that the stations left of the dial-those that take up the non-commercial bandwidth-are staying true to their roots and broadcasting the things that other radio stations are too afraid to play.
What we have here is an actual playlist from KRUI 89.7 FM, a student run radio station at the University of Iowa that used to be a Mecca for subversive and challenging music. Sure, the quality of the airshifts varied from dj to dj, but I don’t ever remember it looking this bad:

You Don't Need to Be A Prostitute - Flight of the Conchords
Magnolia Mountain - Ryan Adams & The Cardinals
Percussion Gun - White Rabbits
Walking the Dog - fun.
Charmer - Kings of Leon
Kids - MGMT
An Eluardian Instance - Of Montreal
Have You Ever Loved a Woman - Eric Clapton
Non Dairy Creamer - Third Eye Blind
Doris Day (Don't Go) - Jack's Mannequin

Again, this may be just a show that’s playing by their own rules and totally dismissing the intent of the station. Maybe the thinking is that by including such mainstream acts like Third Eye Blind, Eric Clapton, and Kings of Leon that they’re actually being rebellious or an alternative to the alternative.
My thinking is that they’re not thinking. That they’re using the public spectrum like an Ipod shuffle while encouraging us to, ironically, reach for their own Ipods.
And yeah, in case you’re wondering: Flight of the Conchords have a new disc out and, like their first one, the best FotC you can get is the one available on dvd.